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4. Memory © SPMM Course 4. Memory In all cognitive operations involving memory 3 different processes are thought to occur.  Encoding - It leads to the formation of initial memory traces and receives information from the outside.  Storage - Retention of infor...

5. Thought & language © SPMM Course 5. Thought & language There are several different theories that consider how language can affect thoughts and behaviour. Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis Grammatical structure of mother tongue influences how we perceive the world e.g....

6. Personality © SPMM Course 6. Personality Theories of personality consider the following different dimensions: Personality as an enduring and consistent feature (dispositional) vs. differing with and influenced by situations (situationalism) Personality tra...

Measuring personality traits: © SPMM Course psychometric construct and content validity. The hostility component of Type A is the only significant risk factor for CHD association. Measuring personality traits: Projective tests are individually administered tes...

7. Motivation: needs and drives © SPMM Course 7. Motivation: needs and drives Motivation refers to the process involved in initiation, direction and energisation of behaviour. It can have various dimensions including internal vs. external, innate vs. learned, ...

8. Emotions © SPMM Course 8. Emotions Ekman identified 6 primary human emotions – surprise, fear, sadness, anger, happiness and disgust. These are universal, innate and ready-wired responses, also seen in primates to some extent. An emotion has 3 components – ...

9. Stress: physiological and psychological aspects © SPMM Course 9. Stress: physiological and psychological aspects Stress is an organism’s response to a challenge in the environment or stimulus. The response, deemed fight-or-flight, is via the activation of t...

The Stress Vulnerability Model © SPMM Course sophisticated models exist. Medications, psychological interventions and training to improve coping skills can build resilience and reduce vulnerability. The Stress Vulnerability Model Coping process: Lazarus (1999)...

10. States and levels of awareness © SPMM Course 10. States and levels of awareness Consciousness is defined loosely as human awareness of stimuli. There are many theories of consciousness, e.g. Sigmund Freud’s Topographical model of the mind. The topographica...

11. Intelligence © SPMM Course 11. Intelligence The two-factor theory of intelligence was postulated by Spearman. Spearman carried out a factor analysis of the result of children’s performance on a number of tests and concluded that all tests measured both a c...

1. Attitudes

Functions of attitudes: (Katz)

Why do attitudes change? © SPMM Course Attitudes Attitudes are “learned predispositions to respond in a consistently favourable or unfavourable way towards a given object, person or event” (Fishbein & Ajzen,1975). An attitude is a combination of beliefs and v...

Measuring Attitudes © SPMM Course For example, in smokers, discrepancy between cognitions (‘smoking is injurious’) and behaviour (repeated smoking) may influence behaviour leading to a cut down, or alternatively, may alter the cognitions (‘there is too little ...

Attitude behaviour correlation © SPMM Course assume that subjective attitudes can be quantified meaningfully. An alternative method of measurement is to observe behaviours, but behaviours do not always reflect attitude.  Thurstone scale: While constructing a ...

2. Self psychology © SPMM Course 2. Self psychology In self-psychology, various concepts are often used to describe the nature of self.  Self-consciousness: Awareness of distinct self, compared to other objects in the environment. Only humans are thought to p...

3. Interpersonal issues

Attribution © SPMM Course 3. Interpersonal issues Attribution This is the process by which we make judgments about causes of behaviour. Heider (1958) was the first to propose a psychological theory of attribution - he called this “naïve” or “commonsense” psych...